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Marry Him If You Dare Episode 16 Recap

How does one go about writing the recap for episode 16 of Marry Him If You Dare (Mirae’s Choice)? One one hand, proper English grammar, syntax, and logical reasoning feel wasted when used on the 60-minutes that just transpired onscreen. On the other hand, writing a recap consisting of “buh?” and “whut?” and “WTF!?!?!” and “Bwahahahaha!” isn’t very easy to read along. Though my heart says just to heck with it and write pure nonsense like the screenwriter of this drama has given us, my mind says I’ve come so far already in recapping 15 episodes properly I ought to stick with it to the very end. With that said, I’ve never had to dig so deep to coherently recap what is completely incoherent plot, which has basically been this drama since episode 7. Everything up to episode 6 was lovely and promising, even though there are some viewers who never warmed up to the drama from the outset. I quite enjoyed the premise, was patient to let the writer tell her story (even if some elements caused me a sense of foreboding worry), and felt like this drama could be an underrated gem that offered something different. Starting from episode 7 onwards this drama went on a complete and total derailment of character and plot that rivals any hot mess K-dramas of yonder years.

I’m going to have to think long and hard about which drama was the bigger writing mess in 2013 – I Summon You, Gold(long lost twin love triangle, yay!) or MHIYD (shoving the heroine with the second male lead against all sense and sensibility). There is no finger pointing at the cast or fandom because it’s ultimately the screenwriter who wrote it this way. But the sharp coupling U-turn was jarring and induced whiplash in the viewers, when all along Mi Rae had only eyes and heart for Shin yet the writer kept siccing Se Joo on her like he was a bloodsucking leech and she the only arm around. Thanks to the involvement popular leading lady Yoon Eun Hye, her huge DC fandom rose to the occasion and drama fans who saw the original script ending revealed that this was NOT the drama Eun Hye signed up for and the ending was intended to deliver what rational drama fans would have wanted. Shin and Mi Rae get married and have a son in this time line as well, and with the help of all their friends manage to overcome his fate of being ruined. In the end, Se Joo and Yoo Kyung get married and also find happiness and a successful marriage. Too bad this drama destroyed so much audience goodwill and hope, in the end it was Pandora’s Box with only all the evils of poor scriptwriting going off the rails to pander to some fans but without the glimmer of hope left within afterwards. To those who watched alongside, thanks for keeping me sane though it all. For a drama with a title that included words like marry, dare, and choice – in the end we saw Mi Rae do none of the above. Fantastic moral of the story, writer-nim.

Episode 16 recap:

Shin hesitates between the two scripts and then delivers the one that toes the company line and doesn’t mention the humidifier product failure death. The production team in the NTN studio all shake their heads in frustration that Shin didn’t read that story. Mi Rae and Se Joo watch the broadcast from future Mi Rae’s hospital room and Mi Rae turns off the TV in disappointment. Not sure why she’s disappointed since she did warn him against reporting it.

Oppa talks with the Time Cops who are here to take future Mi Rae back but now they can’t do it because its dangerous and she might die in her current weakened state. Oppa asks if future Mi Rae needs to go back, can’t she just live here with them?

Mi Rae sits down next to future Mi Rae’s bed and Se Joo asks why future Mi Rae fainted and is there something he doesn’t know. How about an entire story worth of information, dude. Mi Rae says future Mi Rae came from a far away place and Se Joo knows about the future story and asks if Mi Rae believes her? Mi Rae says future Mi Rae feels like a long lost twin and when she sees future Mi Rae hurt she hurts. Se Joo tells Mi Rae to get some rest and leaves. Se Joo walks outside and sees Oppa leaning against the wall looking exhausted.

Shin finishes his broadcast and walks off the stage with all the production team members looking at him in disappointment.

Mi Rae goes to the visit the man whose son died and looks at his pictures. The man shows Mi Rae all the files he’s kept of how his son fell ill. He thanks her profusely for listening and taking on his story. Mi Rae takes out a tape recorder and asks to do an audio interview with him. The man has nothing to hide and says the people who should be ashamed are the company men who sold the product.

Future Mi Rae wakes up and is confused. Oppa and present Mi Rae run to the hospital to take care of her. Future Mi Rae is struggling to leave the hospital and is being restrained by the staff. She recognizes Oppa and is freaked out to see present Mi Rae – future Mi Rae thinks she’s 32-year Na Mi Rae. The doctor comes to check on her and hears that her memory has regressed to 25 years earlier due to shock and should come back in time.

Future Mi Rae sleeps and Mi Rae keeps watch over her. Oppa remembers hearing from the Time Cop that Kim Shin is alive in future Mi Rae’s future time line. He was saved after the accident by a heart procedure and has been waiting for her to come back. Mi Rae asks if its so painful future Mi Rae wants to forget it all, or she just doesn’t want to go back?

Mi Rae and Oppa get dressed up to go to a dinner with Se Joo and Miranda who cuts to the chase and says to set a wedding date since everyone knows about them already. This will lessen the gossip and get Mi Rae married into the family earlier and start learning the wifely skills. Oppa asks what Mi Rae needs to learn and Miranda says cooking and flower arrangement, to which Oppa says Mi Rae already knows how to do those things. Oppa says they can marry right now since he’s not married yet so he wants to see his sister settled first. Miranda says that is fine but asks where future Mi Rae is since she’s supposed to be their relative. Miranda claims she’s friends with future Mi Rae so Mi Rae has to reveal future Mi Rae is sick in the hospital.

Future Mi Rae wakes up and asks where Oppa or her journal is? She also asks where Kim Shin is? Kim Shin visited her every day with flowers so where is he?

Shin sits in his office and he can hear the striking reporters yelling from the lobby. Hee Kyung comes to see him and he asks if she brought him to the family gathering because she knew the network would be in an uproar soon. Yoo Kyung knocks on his door and happily sticks her head in to greet him. Hee Kyung asks who she is and Yoo Kyung cheekily says she’s Shin’s ex-girlfriend. God I love her.

Shin and Yoo Kyung go to a coffee shop to chat. She asks him to review her scholarship application because she is going to study abroad. Shin compliments her on doing all this and Yoo Kyung says he should have fallen for her instead. Shin agrees with a smile and Yoo Kyung asks if he knows that Se Joo and Mi Rae are getting engaged. Shin does. She asks him how he feels but he’s cut off by a call from future Mi Rae begging him to come see her because she’s scared and stole the nurse’s cell to call him.

Se Joo drives Mi Rae home and apologizes for his grandmother’s pressure. Mi Rae reveals she saw Miranda a few days earlier to discuss this. Se Joo asks how she would feel to give it all up to marry him? He then says he’s joking and knows that she is happiest working. Se Joo asks if Mi Rae has considered going back to school?

Shin arrives at the hospital and future Mi Rae runs into his arms the moment he walks in the door. Turns out he called Mi Rae already and heard about what happened to future Mi Rae. Shin sits down with future Mi Rae and they discuss how after the car accident he would visit everyday after work with flowers. Future Mi Rae asks why he’s forgotten already? Shin says they both tried to escape their fates but look at them now, still in the same place. Future Mi Rae says that if one wants to escape fate, one is still being controlled by it. She asks Shin to visit her again tomorrow.

Shin walks through the lobby of NTN and sees the striking reporters. The dad goes to beg Shin to report his story since he lost his infant son and can’t live anymore. Shin apologizes and goes work.

Mi Rae shows her evidence to the production PD about how the humidifier solution with the insecticide mixed in is still being sold in supermarkets and more people could die. The PD says their production relies on sponsors to be broadcast.

Shin is on the roof of NTN and thinks about the dad who lost his son and remembers future Mi Rae crying about how they had a son named Gun who died. He looks down at the script with the news about the death. An older man asks Shin if he wants to broadcast that story? Shin asks who he is and the man says he’s a man whose life was ruined because of Shin. He claims to be Shin from 35-years later.

This future Shin is the man who didn’t report the story and has regretted for the last 35 years. He got money and fame and became news anchor, head of the news department, head of the network. He got it all but everyone left him. His wife died and his kids are all distant from him. He doesn’t even have any friends. Shin asks what about Na Mi Rae. Future Shin says that is a name he remembers fondly. He came today because he always wondered what his life would be like if he made a different choice. He points to his own face and says this is the Shin who made the decision not to report it.

There is a knocking and Shin looks up, then future Shin disappears and he’s sitting in the anchor desk at NTN. Was future Shin just a figment of his imagination? Shin starts to report the news. Future Mi Rae and Shin sit and watch the news together. Mi Rae is upset that future Mi Rae’s memory loss and asks why she’s doing this since she started it all and she can’t just feign memory loss now to avoid dealing with the consequences!

Shin pauses for a moment before his closing speech and changes it to report the news story about the humidifier deaths. Future Mi Rae yells out “no” when she sees what he is doing. Everyone is watching this including the YBS team, with Yoo Kyung worried about Shin. Se Joo watches this from his office. The man whose son died watches it and says thank you, thank you. Shin closes with a request that their young reporters will gather more about this story and report it tomorrow.

Future Mi Rae tells present Mi Rae that she needs to stop Kim Shin and starts to get frantic that she needs to be sedated. Shin walks off the set and all the production members bow deeply towards him in respect and restrain the big wig coming to chew him out. Hee Kyung walks up to Shin and says she’s very disappointed in him. Shin asks if he will be fired and pay a penalty. Hee Kyung says it will be even greater the price he has to pay because it includes disappointing her. Shin says Article 5 of the contract says he needs to report the news truthfully.

Mi Rae arrives at the hospital room and sees future Mi Rae crying and hears that future Kim Shin is alive and waiting for her. She is so happy but future Mi Rae is so ashamed and says he must be so angry at her. Mi Rae encourages her to beg forgiveness and he’ll forgive her. Future Mi Rae says she ruined this present Shin as well, how can she go back to face Shin? Mi Rae says all they need to do is make sure present Shin isn’t ruined.

Mi Rae goes to work and starts gathering information. She tells Oppa that they need to report on the humidifier story and tie it to the NTN cover up and the strike by the reporters. Oppa says this is digging their own graves but Mi Rae believes in it because its the very premise of Pandora’s Box and looking for hope.

Miranda calls Se Joo and asks what Shin did? Even she is somewhat respectful of Hom Group and wouldn’t mess with them. Shin is in way over his head this time. She tells Se Joo to watch what he’s doing.

Mi Rae hands the new script to Writer Bae and Yoo Kyung and begs them to help her air this segment tomorrow. Everyone is busy and she can’t do it alone. Writer Bae says she’ll do it, the most that can happen is that she’s fired. Yoo Kyung also says she’ll do it and handle the consequences. Mi Rae thanks them both.

PD Lee won’t do it but the young news anchor asks what will happen to Shin and hears that he will be fired and pay a huge penalty. They remember that future Mi Rae’s prediction has come true. Shin will get blacklisted for doing this but Mi Rae says helping him is what Pandora’s Box is about. PD Lee agrees to do it and gets the the young anchor to agree as well.

Mi Rae goes to Se Joo to get permission to air this segment and he refuses. She asks if Hom Group is exerting pressure on YBS as well and hears that Hom Group is the largest advertiser and pays all their bills. Se Joo asks if she’s doing this for Shin but Mi Rae says no, she’s doing this for herself because its right. She thought Se Joo was like her and different than Miranda.

Shin arrives at NTN and the reporters go thank him and apologize for putting him in that position. Shin tells them to do their jobs and he’ll take care of himself. Shin walks into his office and finds someone else sitting there already. He smiles and closes the door and leaves. Se Joo is in his office thinking about what Mi Rae said and remembering how he told the Board that he wanted to change YBS with his own hard work and convictions. Se Joo calls Oppa and tells him to run the segment.

Pandora’s Box runs the segment on the humidifier deaths and how Hom Group exerted pressure on NTN to squash the reporting on it. The Chairman of Hom Group is raging as this news program airs. Miranda watches it in the boardroom and demands Se Joo be brought to her. Future Mi Rae watches from her hospital room. The program ends with Yoo Kyung reporting that Announcer Shin has been relieved of duty for reporting this news and now the public has to protect him. Shin watches in his living room. The program ends and everyone happily congratulates each other.

The program is now the talk of the town and Shin’s fate is on everyone’s lips. There is now a petition to reinstate him. Miranda chews out Se Joo for what he did and asks how he is going to take responsibility. Se Joo asks if they will quash the news if it was one of their products? If so then he can’t work here. Miranda blames Mi Rae for leading Se Joo astray and calls Kim Shin a betrayer and she should have realized his true colors when he left YBS. Se Joo asks if he’ll be seen as a betrayer as well then? He then gets up and hands Miranda his resignation letter.

Se Joo sits with Yoo Kyung and she worries that he’ll get a reputation as a quitter since he’s left two jobs at YBS. Se Joo encourages her to become a news anchor but she reveals that she got the scholarship to go to the US East Coast news station. Yoo Kyung asks what he plans to do and if he’s going to Jeju for a few days off? Will Mi Rae go too? Se Joo says nothing and Yoo Kyung asks if Se Joo had met her first and not Mi Rae, would he have fallen for her? Se Joo says….definitely. They both look up at the sky with a sigh.

Miranda calls Mi Rae into her office to ask her to break up with Se Joo. She sees Mi Rae as ruining Se Joo and their YG Group. She shows Mi Rae the resignation letter from Se Joo. Mi Rae says that is Se Joo’s decision. Miranda threatens to ruin Shin forever and he can’t stay in this industry if she doesn’t break up with Se Joo. Mi Rae says she won’t break up with him for that reason and tells Miranda that people can’t be bought with money.

Se Joo walks through his office one last time and gets a call from Mi Rae. She’s cooked him a home meal and he marvels at how they seem like newlyweds. Mi Rae doesn’t respond to that and looks slightly dismayed. They sit down to eat and Mi Rae says she has something to say to Se Joo. He says likewise and asks to go first. He’s tendered his resignation and Mi Rae says she already heard from his grandma. Se Joo plans to go study abroad and learn more. He learned a lot during the Pandora’s Box broadcast. All this time he has been under his grandma’s protection and control and he wasn’t doing what he wanted. He wants to go abroad and learn to produce the programs he wants to do.

Se Joo asks Mi Rae if she will go with him? Mi Rae apologizes and says she can’t stay by his side any longer. Since she met him, she’s always been accepting things from him. Now she wants to do something for him and its not something money can buy. She wants to become someone who can help him and for that she will need some time. She won’t ask him to wait for her, and he can meet someone else during that time. Mi Rae takes off the ring and tells him that if his heart hasn’t changed in the future, will he give it back to her then. Se Joo closes her hand with the ring and tells her to keep it. Mi Rae goes to make him some tea and Se Joo gets up to give her a back hug. Mi Rae puts one hand on his arms around her waist.

Mi Rae goes to the hospital as future Mi Rae is ready to go back. Time Cop is worried her health won’t allow her to make it but she wants to go back. She’ll die here soon anyways. Mi Rae asks if she’ll stay a few more days but future Mi Rae wants to die beside Kim Shin. Even if just for a few days, she wants to spend it all with him. She wants to apologize to him and she knows he’s waiting for her. He’s been waiting for her all this time. God, I’m tearing up over a love story we barely saw but remains the most moving part of this entire stupid drama.

Mi Rae and Oppa walk future Mi Rae to the time-travel elevator. Oppa thanks her for coming and she asks him to get regular check ups and eat well and marry a girl that Mi Rae approves of. Future Mi Rae and Mi Rae say their farewells. Future Mi Rae tells her not to live in regret of the past and live well. Mi Rae thanks her for coming and making her stronger. Mi Rae hands future Mi Rae a key and says to dig up Pandora’s Box that she will bury in the front yard of their house. Future Mi Rae can dig it up when she gets back. When asked what will be put inside, Mi Rae doesn’t know yet but she’ll think carefully about it. Future Mi Rae gets into the elevator and leaves.

Shin is leaving NTN with his belongings packed into a box. He sees people protesting outside in support of him. Mi Rae is there to talk with him and they go on a walk. Mi Rae asks how he feels that future Mi Rae’s predictions came true? He’s not feeling bad since people are helping him. Mi Rae asks how he’s doing now that she’s not by his side. She teases whether he thinks she’s here to get back together with him? Why should she since he was so mean to her. They smile and he says he saw the program and wanted to thank her but she came first.

Mi Rae reveals that future Kim Shin is still alive and waiting for future Mi Rae who went back. Shin says what a relief. Mi Rae jokes that she won’t see him anymore since he’s a guy with a huge debt. Shin asks if she’ll see him after he pays if off. Mi Rae doesn’t know but she doesn’t want to think about the future and dictate her actions because of it. Shin agrees and ruffles her head, saying she’s grown up a lot. They bid each other farewell and walk off on divergent paths.

It’s three year’s later and Mi Rae is a guest on Yoo Kyung’s YBS program. Mi Rae is a well-known screenwriter and best selling book writer now. Yoo Kyung congratulates Mi Rae on her new book release today and asks what she is doing since its Christmas Eve. PD Lee invites them both but both ladies decline since they have plans.

Se Joo arrives at Incheon airport and is picked up by the driver. He’s come back a day earlier than schedule and the driver asks what the reason is? Se Joo asks him to drive him somewhere.

Mi Rae goes home and picks up a baby boy who is Oppa’s son. Oppa’s wife is pregnant with another child already.

Writer Bae teaches a class on screenwriting. Writer Bae name drops being friends with famous writer Na Mi Rae and turns out her husband is a lawyer who is representing Shin and has helped his resolve the lawsuit with NTN.

Shin nows runs an internet news program called The News and is doing well. His lawyer invites Shin to dinner but Shin declines as he has other plans.

Mi Rae walks into the bookstore and picks up her just released book called Mirae’s Choice (Future’s Choice). As she walks past the display, Shin walks over and picks up the same book with a smile. Se Joo walks into the same bookstore and heads to the same book display.

Mi Rae narrates that Christmas makes people think of miracles. A friend who has left comes back, lovers who have not been in touch find each other again. Even if Christmas doesn’t make every miracle come true, people still dream and this Christmas is the happiest Christmas of her life.

Mi Rae walks back into the bookstore and pauses right by the door as she sees someone. Shin? Se Joo? Both? Neither? She sees her coffee prince Gong Yoo? She spots her crown prince Joo Ji Hoon? She runs into her hotel prince Kang Ji Hwan? Whoever she sees brings a smile to her face. The end.

A silent epilogue after the credits show future Mi Rae digging up the time capsule and inside are pictures of happy Mi Rae cuddling a little boy. A man’s hand then closes over future Mi Rae’s hand. Did the writer forget that present Mi Rae and future Mi Rae are in different UNIVERSES hence they do not have anything to do with each other’s actions? Present Mi Rae’s time capsule would NOT show up in future Mi Rae’s backyard. Even in the very end we are faced with massive plot holes we can all drive the Death Star through. Thanks writer-nim.

Thoughts of Mine:

Who could have guessed that the only romance and love story development in this entire drama would be in flashbacks between future Mi Rae and future Shin’s time line, as well as the resolution of their painful marriage which turned out to be they still loved each other and wanted to be together. So all future Mi Rae had to do was sit her ass down while her husband was in the hospital and not hop on a time machine to change her own past. So much makes no sense though. She thinks Shin died, one would hope she saw him declared dead before coming to that conclusion. If so, did future Shin get resurrected? LOL, maybe she’s going back to a re-animated zombie Shin. Who knows? If he was in a coma and she jump to conclusions that he was dead, hopped on a time machine and while she was gone he was saved by the doctors, then she continues being one of the most idiotically motivated plot devices in the history of K-dramas. Next to the jar gummy fetus time-traveling tumor in Dr. Jin. I want to hate her, and I do, but she also provides the only sliver of romance in this drama. I actually teared up when she said she wanted to go back and die next to future Shin, and if she had any time left she wanted to spend it all with him. So she loves him, like he still loves her and is waiting for her. This also totally confuses me as to why she would spend all the early episodes painting him as a villain of the first order. If she loved him and simply wanted to change their fate and save his life, there are so many ways she could have explained things to present Mi Rae that didn’t involve calling Shin a horrible man who caused the death of someone she loved. I still can’t figure out if that death is referring to their son Gun or Shin’s supposed death himself. This drama, it makes my head hurt, just like everything future Mi Rae did makes my heart hurt. I wished present Mi Rae and Oppa would have physically punted her into that time machine.

Having reached the only logical conclusion that this drama has no logic whatsoever, how do I interpret the ending? Its as inconsistent and weak-willed as Mi Rae has been all drama long. Did Mi Rae pick Se Joo or Shin in the end? The fact that this drama even created so much narrative mess that it could plausibly have an open ending is in itself a sheer joke. The story was developing towards Shin and Mi Rae falling in love despite future Mi Rae obstacles this time around, and picking each other still but making different choices to overcome perhaps the same problems to come. It was about how choice can change how outcomes, not about making different choices to avoid problems. The abrupt change midway through to keep the Se Joo love triangle alive could only be explained as fan service to give his character reason to keep interacting with Mi Rae because his character was popular (whether due to his fans or just drama viewers who liked the nice rich guy and not the prickly straitlaced guy). It was failed fan service since in the end more screen time was to the detriment of Se Joo’s character development, and also a big waste of Shin’s character since he was shunted to the side to serve as plot devices but not much else. His move to NTN, his deciding to report the news, all of that gave Mi Rae something to do to help him.

This drama’s script change is the perfect example of shooting oneself in the foot. Giving Se Joo more screen time with Mi Rae but without making her suddenly love him back just killed both their characters. But it wouldn’t make sense to have her suddenly love him back, so the writer couldn’t go there either. Nor could the writer completely relegate Shin to second lead status that obviously, so in the end the three leads suffered the ignominious fate of behaving unlikeably for no commensurate pay off. While most drama viewers are appalled by this ending, fans of all the leads alike, there are still a vocal contingent that are pleased and insisting Se Joo got the girl because Mi Rae kept the ring and put the choice in Se Joo’s hand as to whether he would still want her in a few years time. Since Se Joo came back and went to buy her book, the implication is that he still wanted her. I think the writing at the end intended to point more towards Se Joo than Shin. The backhug continued the pattern of giving them more skinship, with Mi Rae and Shin barely have any scenes together for the last 4 episode and definitely zero romantic gestures. The way Shin and Mi Rae said farewell with calm maturity and they walked diverging paths can also be taken as a sign.

So let’s posit that in this timeline, because of future Mi Rae’s meddling Mi Rae ended up with Se Joo and everyone is fine with it. Yoo Kyung let him go and made something of herself with her own two feet. Can we stop to give her a round of applause? She also got the confirmation from Se Joo that he would have fallen for her definitely if he met her first in Jeju. That made her happy and gave her closure, though it made me roll my eyes that all it takes for Se Joo is one look at a girl in Jeju and he’s all hers. Whatever, Se Joo hasn’t ever appealed to me with his thinking so I’ll just let others appreciate his brand of myopic persistence. Shin seems fine with it, though he did ask Mi Rae whether he they could meet again after his debt is paid and she said maybe and three years later his lawsuit is all over and done with. Let’s assume Shin and Mi Rae never contacted each other during the three years because she was making a name for herself and he was fighting his battle with NTN and also forging a new internet news program career. So this Christmas Eve, they could also run into each other with the possibility of rekindling things. Or not. At this point I don’t care, and I don’t think the characters even seem to care. Everyone seems fine and dandy. I would then prefer all four to find totally random new significant others and make brand new choices in life outside of this mess. Though if we take future Mi Rae’s epilogue that she opened the time capsule and the pictures are from present Mi Rae’s timeline, then she ended up with Shin because that looks like their baby son Gun. So I still don’t know definitively who Mi Rae picked, LOL. This word “choice” should be stricken from the drama title since Mi Rae didn’t actually make one as far as anyone can see.

At least Oppa came out of this meddling smelling like roses, alive and with a pretty wife and kids. While one can surmise that there is a moral of the story that people can make choices to follow their heart and principles and still overcome the odds, the journey this drama took undercut all of those and in the end just threw easily resolutions on the wall and called it a day. It’s mind-boggling that this drama had leads charisma-filled Yoon Eun Hye and Lee Dong Gun and didn’t even let them kiss or cuddle or do anything remotely romance-derived for the entirety of the drama. I love them both so so much and watching them give their all to something written so ineptly pains me. If I wanted to watch a drama about people moping unhappily for the majority of its run, then I would pick a drama with titles like “Most Depressing Life Ever” or “There is No Romance Here, Just Depressing People” or “Watch Out, Crazy Second Male Lead Straight Ahead”. This drama was supposed to be about Mi Rae marrying Shin because she dared to love him, it was about her making a choice because she had the courage to overcome the stacked odds. In the end, Mi Rae can marry the ahjusshi down the street and I could care less, and she definitely didn’t make any choice I could see that resulted in a satisfying conclusion for the viewers. Worst K-drama ever? Yeah, MHIYD can submit its name for the pantheon now. How it ranks on the pantheon of suck is a question I haven’t the time, energy, or heart to ponder.

Comments

Marry Him If You Dare Episode 16 Recap — 230 Comments

OK, I give up. I watched 14 eps of this mess hoping we’ll see Shin and Mi Rae end up together, but I will not spend more time on this. I had some hopes in the beginning especially as the writer addressed some women issues, like the sexual exploitation of the second female lead, but this topic drizzled out quickly.

MHIYD competes with Shark for the top spot of biggest disappointment this year.
What an utter waste of talented actors.
Lee Dong Gun, I love you anyway.

oh god you lasted long! I could get through episode 13! I dropped it there and watched some MR/Shin scenes that I liked nothing more than that! the lack of them in the few last episodes made me drop it! I couldn’t get through! koala is a hero to endure that! my love for YEH and LDG made me very sad for this waste of time and talent! I wanna see them together again in another drama! I know its hard but I really want them to work together again this mess didn’t give us anything! at leaset in big we had many GY and LMJ scenes! but here! just zero romance! why did I watch this again!
that why you should wait before you watch a drama!

and YEH drama with no actual kiss scene! wow! are you serious writer 😐 plus she even got LDG as a lead actor! there kiss scenes would have been EPIC!
oh god! this drama gives me headaches! I even dreamt about my OTP having their happy ending and kiss! see how desperate was I! I wanna KILL this writer!

I’ve noticed this would come, coz since ep 15 this drama wasn’t move to a clearer area, but sink further deeply..it seems, the writer had changed directions since ep 9, where there’s always SJ on scene..grrhhkk, n less YK’s part..poor YK..it supposed to be around the 4, but why YK’s always neglected on scene..weird..so I don’t expected much for an ending, even though she end up choosing her career, I don’t care..she deserves it! Coz she is FMR

Here you go again @ms koala insisting the mirae and shin otp and then hate the writer,for not doing so.Even alleging that there is another script,in other words it is called inventhing things,a thing that had no factual basis to support your claim.

@SUNSHINE
everybody ship whatever they want!
about the script actually everyone says that the writer actually changed the script cause in korean they wanted the SJ/MR ship! so for the sake of the ratings and for the korean netizens not to hate her she changed it! and as its LDG comeback she couldn’t just made MR end up with the second lead so she went with an open ending! it’s everywhere I don’t think it’s @ms koala alleging! you can see it on soompi and netizenbuzz!

but it’s different thing when you hate other person bcause of that,then it’s her responsiblity to post first the allegedly script{if there is,but i dought},visually and examined,otherwise it’s only an invented thing.

What I think is pointless. It’s so pointless I can’t find enough words to describe the utter stupidity. All I got was the writer had clout if people listened to her. JYH’s fanbase was big. And that this drama sucked big time but the actors were professionals.

And for you Ms Koala, if you’re ever in the same city as me, let me buy a drink. Or several. I can’t even find words to say how sorry I am that you had to watch and recap. You can’t even fast forward anything.

Id buy her a meal. No, I take that back. I’d cook for her every day. She could just stay in my house and throw all her dirty laundry on the floor and I would wash it without complaint. This was beyond the call of recapping duty.

Well if JYH’s fanbase was this strong, it sure as hell didn’t help the ratings – those got worse and worse – so I don’t buy it. I don’t get why ppl here blame the progress on shippers or fanbases.

A The 2nd lead shipping in MHIYD was tame compared to other dramas. If the writer faltered bc of that then she’s very weak. There wasn’t much reaction to the drama period.
B I don’t see how this could have been fan service as all the later eps did was destroy the character PSJ. Fans didn’t seem happy either.
C What I saw online is that JYH’s fans shipped SJ with YK, a lot, mostly hoping for his own loveline n maybe a scene to redeem himself for that sorry excuse of a kiss scene that was Heartstrings.

There would have been many ways to give JYH more screentime without ruining the character PSJ, the storyline or the OTP. So it just comes across like drama fans looking down on idol fans to which LOL bc dramas n idols are both pleasantly cheesy, two sides of the same thing.

I want to hit my head against the wall because of this end. She never loved Seju. So why does she leave it up to him to decide if he wants her when he comes back? If she’s smiling at him, what does it matter, since they had any romance. I do agree I see a Seju end from the present end more than a Shin end, but then the box that shouldn’t be there definitely points towards a Shin end.

I don’t think it matters anyway since Shin was happy. YK was happy. Maybe they ended up happy together like I wanted lol. I don’t care about Seju and Mirae’s happiness. Why did Seju randomly leave to study overseas anyway? He just came back from there! Makes no sense.

It’s a shame the drama was changed so much and YEH and LDG were stuck with this drama. By far it’s the worst thing I’ve watched this year.

I dropped Goddess of fire. TOO boring to even bother watching it. Secret is great. I went through melodrama syndrome right after it ended! On going with Empress Ki, too long but very solid till now. Very charismatic cast. I’m not watching Heirs ( too overpopular as dramabeans gave this comment and I totally agree) LOL

@sara
Overall, korean dramas in 2013 are half and half.
The good dramas are….I hear your voice, master of the sun, good doctor, secret, empress ki, the heirs, that winter the wind blows, two weeks, gu family book

NOT good dramas are…when a man loves, MHIYD, godess of fire, medical top team; jang ok jung was meh. Pretty man is okay…so far it got low ratings in Korea.

I agree. and to add the cable dramas Cyrano dating agency and Flower boy next door, they were pretty light and a nice to watch.
How about Warm words? great cast but story seems abit not interesting. I’ll give it a try along with The prime and I. I will for sure stay away from pretty man.

@melissa
Yeah! romance was there for most of it. Even the second leads had no chance! and LSG sold the drama for me! I’m biased so I wasn’t going to watch it if it wasn’t for him!

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry over the loss of 16 precious hours I wasted on this nonsense. I also can’t understand how the hell we’re watched drama that written by the same screenwriter ofe the wonderful drama The king 2 hearts. I feel cheated! Now I just need to find an original way to demand adequate compensation for the distress caused to me. Suggestions are welcome.

when I started this I had assumed we would be getting two cute otp’s. my hope kept going and going for most of the drama until my hope changed to at least they have to end up together at the end of the drama. now I truthfully feel beyond stupid for keeping my hopes up for so long.

Same here, sigh. The teasers looked so promising, the first eps were nice. I wanted it to be light fun with two adorable OTPs and finally a good YEH drama since CP. She had such bad luck with her choices. What a waste.

I haven’t watched the final yet (since I need subs) but from what I just read the ending might be very open but it for sure sounded like she will end up with sj since she asked him to give her the ring when he came back.
and after thinking about it not only did they have more screen time together but I think he even had more screen time than shin.
im wondering if the writer changed the series as she went because of all his real life fans or because the ending got leaked or just because she smoked something or what but that is not what I signed up for. seriously disappointed.

people on soompi said that the original script was changed! In the original script, it was supposed to be YEH and LDG end up together married with their son and after some time jump YK and SJ met again and also end up married! and that’s said from few people who saw the original script that they read before the drama! so the writer changed the original one! I just want her to stop writing after this trainwreck!
anyway I don’t think YEH and LDG would have accepted this role unless they saw something inspirational about it! and as many YH irrational stans wanted MR/SJ together without even looking at the meaning behind the story we got this mess in the end! senseless plot with no romance between two couples that could have had so many lovey dovey scenes! the writer wanted to sell this story and as she got YH being an idol and a hot topic so to raise the ratings she changed everything and we didn’t have LDG as a male lead after episode 10 or 11 and ended up messing everything! such a stupid writer!

Tbh if I was this writer even if I realized my story is turning into shit I’d at least do the proper thing and end everyone’s misery by dedicating the final episode to all things happy and hopeful. Mi Rae and shin end up together with a baby and se joo and yookyung too. Why she couldn’t just do that says alot about her own artistic integrity to herself. Tell the story you want to tell. Why so swayed by fans? Maybe she was as someone mentioned above, smoking some crack.

@ilikemangos
I agree with you that’s what she should have done! just give us a happy episode to at least remember it! it’s like we asked so much! god not even a kiss 😐 I’m seriously annoyed about this fact! even melodramas have romance and kisses!
if I was a writer and I have a certain script and a meaning behind it why would I change it! the hell to the world!
the writer is not bad at all in writing the development of characters in the beginning of the drama! this one had potential!
anyway I think she is swayed be fans and wanted to play safe! and might wanted profit! idk what happened but she is the one who slaughtered this drama!

Wow. I compliment you on writing actually words rather than hissing like you were speaking in Parseltongue the entire time. Was that endign where they all happen to go toe the same bookstore but not see each other supposed to be poignant? I would actually like a real drama where the decision to be alone and independent was not so sucky because this means that no one will write that story. Everything does not have to end in a wedding. What I mean is if this really was a story about how Mirae needed to really grow into herself first, love herself first, before she could be good to anyone else, then I would be all for it. There are inklings of this throughout–how she really has a better sense of self in this post future Mirae interference world because she follows her dreams, which actually make things better, in many ways, for everyone around her. Shin, Se Joo, and Yoon Kyung all are more independent than they were in the original time line and free to make choices they are proud of. But the show was never really committed to that story and insisted on teasing and reteasing the romance . I mean we have a time jump and still there is no resolution. I have seen better endings in freshmen level creative writing courses.

I think we are all in agreement that this writer should never write without her sister no? I was all set to start watching this drama during the christmas holidays…thank god I hadnt yet. Although I am still MAJORLY dissapointed that there was not even one kiss between Lee dong geun and lee eun hye!! Seriously? UGH!! I was holding out hope until the end of this recap 🙁 What a bitter end…

But there was a kiss, wasn’t it? Right in the very beginning in the flash back hospital scene in the ‘first’ reality after Mi Rae’s accident and her meeting Shin. Didn’t they kiss? And I thought – wow, so early in the show? This gonna be good. Ha! That was before the writer became possessed with another personality and a different plot.

They did have a kiss. Though that’s FMR and FKS, the only real love story in the drama not the present day characters. Now I want to know why Shin and Mirae both dreamed of the other timeline if they had nothing to do with each other.

HAHAHAHA! I thought just the same thing! I thought we could have alot of kissing scenes! and look how wrong were we! I think its like kimshin said earlier in the first few episodes “bad fate” we should have dropped this drama then!

“Mi Rae walks back into the bookstore and pauses right by the door as she sees someone. Shin? Se Joo? Both? Neither? She sees her coffee prince Gong Yoo? She spots her crown prince Joo Ji Hoon? She runs into her hotel prince Kang Ji Hwan? Whoever she sees brings a smile to her face.”

Ah, so that’s it (the drama was produced by FNC)….. YH’s agency used this drama to boost his career. They used the original script to lure YEH to accept this project. I only endured this drama because of YEH and LDG. I hope LDG won’t be in project that will also include YH in it, but how would that be possible when both are managed by the same agency? Poor LDG.

No, fnc did involve in producing this drama, as co-production with anex telecom and kbs media.. But they did not involve in ost as compared to the heirs drama. In heirs the production team is hwa&dam pictures.

thank you koala for your patience. 2 months has passed. such a relief that it has over. i dont need to hope for nothing anymore. it is all (un)clear.

in my thought, the writer just want to play safe. she let us imagine what we want to happen, since it was an open ending.
but. she is the writer!! who make the whole story and characters!! and she, herself, can’t choose a right guy for mirae??

okay. since i watch this drama because it has LDG. i’ll imagine mirae married shin. hmmm. and than they live happily ever after. nah, such a good drama right?

Haha! I’ve been lurking and reading your recaps of this drama only because I like all the leads and dread seeing them being dragged thru a poor plot. Actually, I watched up to ep 3 and gave up because it’s always a bad sign when they make the second lead appealing and the main lead so unlikeable (and knowing that in all likelihood the latter will end up with the leading lady). In a way this reminds me of King Flower’s Terry and GJ (but I persisted with that because Terry was truly awesome and worthy of DH’s love).

Anyhow thankfully I didn’t waste 13 hours of my time watching the rest of this and thank you for recapping this so I know I didn’t make a bad choice (I was always going to give this a chance if the recaps proved me wrong!) Thanks Koala!

Finally! this Sh!t is over. I wanted to drop this mess way before half of it but my sadness for LDG made me hang on there.

At least YK got herself a nice ending. She’s almost the only rational person on this show. I would say Shin too since he had his reasons to stay away from MR but I’d leave it that way. As I really want to erase this drama from LDG history. Please Wikipedia and AsianWiki forget Marry him if you dare!

Wow I can’t even believe I lasted this long, but your recap just further supports my decision not to even watch the “final” episode.

What a heaping pile of shit this turned out to be! I’m starting to think your idea to run outside in a fit of rage and bang my head against the nearest tree is a pretty good idea. 100% done with this show.

Although his performance in this was one of the only redeeming qualities, here’s to hoping LDG actually gets a productive love line in his next drama. Thanks for the recaps! Looking forward to the next.

this drama doesn’t deserve even 0,000000000000000000000000000000000000001 percent of rating. arghhhhtttt.

dear writer, i am from the future too. and in my dream. your life are all ruined.
maybe i should tell future writer so she could come to present time. to tell you that YOU SHOULD NEVER WRITE THIS DRAMA BECAUSE IT IS SUCK AND WILL MAKE EVERYONE WHO WATCH IT CRAZY AND THAN YOUR CAREER WILL END FOREVER!!

Yes..I think Missing You is good too for a melodrama genre..coz it’s different from other melos..heart wrenching, mystery, suspense, love hate relationship and I love YEH and YC chemistry there..nice wrapped I must say..

I still remember watching Unexpected You and thought there was no way that the character of the scripwriter depicted some real scriptwriters in real life because the woman was crazy as hell, demanding whereas she didn’t have any talent in writing and always used and reused the same gimmicks for her dramas and yet, this drama proved me that indeead, scriptwriters as sucky as her existed.

I mean, it’s a big WTF, middle finger in my face, seriously. I got to applaud the actors’ professionalism for sticking with that shitty drama. I don’t think I would have been able to do my job, learn a script which I know sucks really bad and all. BRAVO.
And gosh’, Yoo Kyung I freakin’ love. The only good thing that the drama gave me is that I became a fan of Han Chae Ah ;D
thanks for the recap ! Great great job. I don’t even know how you do it without skipping parts. Got my respect XD.

dear writer , you are a loser ,quiter, airhead .This drama was fan service WhY? I JuSt read this sh!it WAS prODuCeD BY JYH’S AGenCY. THIS AGENCY HAVE WELL DESERVED THE LOWS RATINGs FOR PLAY WITH THE VIEWERS .You can go to sell this sh!t to jyh’s fans even they wouldn’t pay for this . Lee dong gun should just leave this agency , they used him and YEH to improve JYH career that doesn’t even exit . Stupid agency , stupid writer . You should pay me for my time watching this $%%$&&””(/&%&%.

The original script was different, and there are rumors that the production was against the changes the writer made.. therefore seems like the writer played/wasted everyone’s time (the actors) and money (the agency and network who helped produced it).

I honestly doubt any of the parties involved with this would’ve accepted if they knew where the story was going.

Also, I need to make a point that JYH didn’t even get to sing for this drama, I believe they did this as to not have him have the full focus on it, if they really had wanted to make him the start of this drama they would’ve exploited the hell out of him in the OST too (Heartstrings OST is still randomly topping charts in Japan) but he didn’t why because he wasn’t the lead. People, wake the hell up and realize that the writer simply fucked up the story and the characters. Move on.

It’s my opinion I’d like to be respected I watched his two previous dramas I know perfectly what he lacks I’m not a fan I’m not a antifan I’m not a hater . My brain is perfect thanks for your concern. Fan service is what I watch in this drama .He was hired to act not sing. ost??????????????????? with ost or without an ost this drama is the worst.

@ Les okay I know what you mean and you as a fan of YH you’ll be biased! yeah I know that’s the writer fault she sucked big time and it was clearly for profit! but we can’t deny two things! that YH crazy stans are one of the reasons this drama sucked as they insisted about MR/SJ thing!
idols acting in a drama always leave a bad impression mostly! sorry but most of them sucks in acting, not sorry! among all of these idols and I’ve seen a lot, it’s LSG that I accepted him as an actor! after K2H he is definitely got the talent!
I won’t deny that YH improved alot as the only drama I seen him in was YAB but I’m sorry to me he is not there yet to be called a good actor! actors are like LDG! this is his comeback after 5 years and look how he acts! he gave this depth and layers to shin that made me in love with him even if he is acting like a brick! and see how they cut so much screen time in the latest episodes that I don’t feel like he is the leading actor anymore! so LDG gave us this amazing performance in a few short scenes!

about the OST thing seriously! that would be too much! you are saying to me like you should thank god that he didn’t sing an ost and he didn’t want profit! I know YH is a nice guy but seriously his fans are too much! sorry but YH being in this drama is one of the reasons that lead to this mess, of course the writer is the big butcher of this drama but she made YH the victim! sorry but whatever you say he is one of the reasons! and I think that the agency is behind this mess!

@perfectbrain Oh, you are completely entitled to ignore my comments, I, like may other people that have followed this drama found this forum as a way of exchanging opinions/frustrations about the drama. If you have read my comments you’ll see I’ve never insulted anyone (actor or poster) and have directed my frustration to the story alone, HOWEVER in this case, I think I’m just getting annoyed at reading some of these comments insulting YH and accusing his fans being irrational or delulu but then I think.. Do they even realize that they are just as irrational and delulu but just in the other end of the spectrum? Yonghwa might not have a lot of dramas under his belt and might not have the experience as the others but to go as far as to say his career is non existent? I understand people being upset by the story (I’m personally am super pissed) but I don’t think it’s fair to insult the actors because of it, and that doesn’t just apply to people bashing YH but also to those that were bashing LDG because they preferred YH, is annoying both ways. The only one to blame here is the writer and the writer alone.

Actually, if you read my comments I’ve been pretty neutral to both actors, I haven’t been biased, yes I’m a fan of Yonghwa and CNBLUE but that does not automatically make me irrational. A lot of people are just looking to point their fingers and blame somebody for this drama, since the writer is not enough and they were frustrated with Sejoo’s character now they are going after the guy playing the character. The reason why I brought the OST as an example was because FNC is known for this, pushing their artists to do the OST, in this case even though FNC produced it, Yonghwa didn’t get to sing it. In all of the previous dramas where FNC idols have acted out, they have participated in the OST, this drama was the exception. If they had really tried to push YH down everybody’s throats as fan service believe me knowing this agency he would’ve done the OST (MV and all). I agree LDG gave an amazing performance and he is years ahead of Yonghwa in acting experience, I’m annoyed too at how his character was handled in the story, yet I don’t hold the actor accountable, this was the writer, she created a second lead character that was “prince charming” since episode 1, I don’t know what her damn intention was by doing this if Sejoo was second lead anyway but that was her first mistake. The only reason why I’m “defending” Yonghwa more is that he seems to be getting the most backlash because of something his character did which is really unfair, this could be any other actor/idol and I would be saying the same.

I was even cheering when I read Ms. Koala’s take on this, if you have followed her blog you would know that she has been quite critical of Yonghwa even before this drama started (acting wise) and even she was neutral on this matter, because seriously blaming the actor for his character and the script, is just too much.

@Les
hahahaha sorry if I bothered you!
yeah I totally get what you mean! it’s the writer fault along with his agency they just put him in the front so he got all the blame! if she wanted SJ/MR they shouldn’t have casted LDG as a male lead in the first place! though I rooted for shin despite his flaws I can’t deny that SJ might appeal to a large scale! and that’s the writer faults! but the problem after episode 8 everything went downhill! everyone and everything was a disaster! sigh!

yeah I know that ms koala doesn’t like YH! I don’t like idols acting but I just don’t care about them! but I don’t blame them for the failure of this drama! this drama, the writer with the fans to please in korea for the sake of ratings beside the agency are the downfall of this one!!

Jyh career doesnt exist????? Pfft. I laugh on you. Some people here on this site blames his fans for the downfall of this drama. So he doesnt have a career???? Career = fans. Even he is not full pledge actor. He Have a career.

If the original script was changed, just think how the cast must have felt! The writer completely messed up the story and the cast. Definitely mocked up the cast and the viewers regardless whether they shipped Shin and Mirae or See Joo and Mirae.

┬─┬﻿ ノ( ゜-゜ノ) Seriously though, the only thing I enjoyed about this whole mess was the BTS scenes (the cast has an amazing chemistry)the eye candy (JYH and LDG *.*) And your recaps; your recaps Ms.Koala were far more interesting then the episodes itself, they should’ve hired you to do this.

At this point I can’t even get mad, after episode 12 my expectations completely shut down to hell with this drama. I heard the rumor of what the original script was, (both couples end up with their corresponding partners) so I’ll just delude my self into believing that’s what actually happened (plus an additional scene where FMR get’s sucked into a blackhole for messing with Quantum Mechanics).

I’m with you! There was only a scene where the time cop said that what happened in the present will not change the future or something to that effect. Mad as I am at the turn to hell of the story, it is that phrase that keeps me from screaming my head off at the writer. Mirae ended up with Shin. The End.

and also they both have spent 3 years in korea together right. sejoo and yookyung went abroad. just imagine how many times they would meet, since mirae and shin are fated to be together from the beginning. haha. and then, FMR went back to the future to meet shin, they are really can not be separated.

just imagine what would they do together. it makes me happy. since the ending was a total disappointment.

I don’t think the ending was leaning towards Seju. Having not seen someone for a long time doesn’t mean feelings will suddenly develop in that time of absence. If Mirae couldn’t make herself fall in love with Seju while he was there right in front of her, no amount of absence will do that either.

I just wish the writer could have made a decision either way. If the beginning of the drama is any indication of what the end would be is that however much we mess with fate, destiny will still find a way in the future. We can teach our minds what to think, but our hearts will only beat one way. I’d have to say it was still Mirae and Shin in the end. The writer just didn’t have the guts to tell us plain and simple.

Sure, blame it on the “crazy idol stans”…if that makes you feel better.

But if anyone actually cares, they didn’t even want Seju to be with Mirae after she rejected him continuously. If any of you ACTUALLY READ KOREAN, you’ll know that’s what they say at DC JYH and most in DC MHIYD who were rooting for Seju-Mirae were NOT JYH fans. After ep.7, YH fans wanted a separate romance for Seju, where he’s appreciated for his actual worth.

and FYI, LDG is also in the same agency, and that’s the agency that cast HIM as the male lead. From the start, it’s LDG who got the majority of screen time until the middle of the drama and carried all the “heroic” scenes. YH had maximum 10-12 minutes per episode and his scenes with Mirae always ended with Shin watching them. Despite this difference, it was Seju who earned viewers’ support.

Throughout the drama, the vast majority of viewers in Korea (perhaps unbelievable to most of you, but they are not all JYH fans, as there’s no way they comprise 4-5% of total viewers) wanted Mirae and Seju to be together. Not because of his idol status (drama fans never favor idols over more established actors, SURPRISE!), but because Seju was portrayed as giving unconditional love to Mirae whereas Shin kept being abusive toward Mirae, both physically and verbally. On top of that, he almost never apologized for any of his abuses. The main reason the drama flopped is because the viewers couldn’t sympathize with why Mirae would like such a person.

Maybe it’s a cultural perspective difference-Koreans want women to be loved, whereas international viewers want women to follow their hearts. But it’s really just not because JYH fans wanted this ending. They clearly didn’t as they knew he was the second lead from the get-go. All they wanted was a good drama where he could shine as an actor. Please stop bashing when you don’t know a thing about the fandom.

Oh, and the agency favoring YH thing? Please don’t get me started on that. They took YH out of Heirs, written by “the rom-com queen writer” KES, to be in this mess of a drama that they produced. I don’t know about you, but if I was the agency CEO and I favored him, I would have done anything to put him in a KES drama no matter what.

Just to add, as I mentioned above, if they had wanted to make YH the star of the drama they would also have had him sing the OST and really exploit his popularity, but they didn’t (even though is fans were really pushing to have him sing the main song). They showcased more Sejoo the character because it had better feedback than Shin’s character, not necessarily because Yonghwa was playing it.

People are mad but the only one that should be blame for this is the writer, NOT the cast, NOT the loyal drama fans (because it took a hell of a lot of loyalty to stick to this) and NOT the agencies.

>The main reason the drama flopped is because the viewers couldn’t sympathize with why Mirae would like such a person

Bullshit. The drama started dropping in ratings in episode 2 after a decent start and Shin had little to no screentime. Don’t blame one character for the issues of the whole drama. And kdrama watches not understanding why the main female would like the abusive guy? lol forever.

Maybe it’s a new trend, Melissa. It’s kind of like how viewers prefer the whiny baby emperor in Empress Ki and the adoring doofus in Reply 1994 because being loved is more important than being with the one you love. Or something like that.

PLEASE. Go watch Ep. 2 again. Until about 36 mins into the show, Seju doesn’t even have a dialogue because he’s in the TV station and Mirae takes forever to get there.

And don’t forget that Kim Shin did all kinds of superhero gimmicks by saving lives and saving broadcasts through ep. 4-6, where the ratings plunged the most. You all raved about him here, but the fact is ratings were dropping in Korea. Why do you back out now saying he was still good? Maybe to you, but not to them. Is that so hard to accept?

I can’t persuade you to like Seju. That’s personal preference. But please accept the reality in Korea, that Shin wasn’t even popular with those meager viewers who were not all JYH fans. I didn’t say Seju was loved by all Koreans enough to follow this anxious storyline, but just that those remaining viewers identified with him more.

If Shin was a great character, this drama wouldn’t have been a flop to begin with. That’s why I’m blaming it on that character. If you want to bring up other abusive characters who were popular, perhaps they had other attractive charms to make up for it. Personally, I think those characters eventually showed a lot of love toward their female lead than KS. If you perceive them as having exact same qualities, are you blaming it on the actor’s personal charms? I wouldn’t go that far, that’s more offensive to LDG.

The writer already panicked before she could show Shin in ‘love’ mode. Of course shallow viewers would say ‘why wouldn’t she pick the chaebol heir who inexplicably adores her?’ instead of some grumpy news anchor. Doesn’t change the fact that it’s still shallow.

It’s like you totally forget all the SJ/MR scenes during that time and the ratings still dropped a point every week (btw, the lowest rated early episode was 5, when Seju and Mirae had their date and one romantic moments when she picked Seju over Shin).

Shin is a good character. Good characters don’t have to be liked by everyone. Seju WAS a good character before he turned into the laughable mess he became.

You call me BS, based on your false information that “Shin had little to no screentime” in ep.2. Then you wonder why I’m mad? Wow. Either you didn’t check the time, or you’ve forgotten that you insulted me. Maybe I see why you like Shin.

Now that you mention ep.5, many viewers had actually dropped out AFTER ep.4 cuz they realized MR was firmly set on KS after the “romantic” prop room scene and the ridiculous restructuring “magic” he performed. Seju was locked shut in the 2nd lead zone, which frustrated the viewers who had been rooting for Seju. And I am NOT speculating this, I READ these opinions online myself, thanks. This is when more viewers started to root for Seju-YK in Korea as well, but that died when SJ began to be abused as a marketing tool for the drama.

I am not saying no one in the world can like Shin, but he was simply an unpopular character in Korea no matter how good YOU think he is. The writer “panicked” before Shin was in love mode? He already cursed the heck out of MR with harshest words possible after the car accident, maybe you didn’t know the exact words, but they were pretty bad. The only reason he gave work to MR is so that he doesn’t come under fire for the Driver’s license mess. He went against his principles from the beginning and tweaked the situation for his own good. How was he a good character there? And after SJ’s confession, he tried to get revenge on MR, and deliberated hurt her, even when he knew it wasn’t MR who lied to him. When MR was hurt at the ghost house, he tried to make moves on her…????? Then at the editing room, he called her wound and bandage “dirty”. No apologies ever…I don’t know how viewers can sympathize with a guy like this. How can you?

In comparison, how is Seju’s love shallow? He’s not just a simple chaebol. He pretended to be a VJ so that he can learn the real work instead of domineering with his power right away. He fell in love with MR because she was so free, unlike himself who was locked up in strict family rules. It wasn’t about her looks and he never tried to use her for anything. He fell deeper when she understood how he feels inside, when she commented spot-on about his film. To top it off, she’s the one who asked him out first and sprinkled water on him and flirted with him. There was plenty of suggestive actions on MR’s part to invite SJ.

Towards the end he kept pursuing her yes, but at least he was true to himself and his feelings, admitted his faults and tried in his own way to protect those he care about. He wouldn’t have been pursuing MR if KS didn’t desert her coldly like that so he could survive (it wasn’t even for MR’s sake). This is why those who kept watching MHIYD in Korea thought this way and continued to root for him over Shin. You can hate Seju all you want, but I’m saying, that still doesn’t change what the native viewers thought of him.

There is a Korean article that went into detail as to why Sejoo’s character was the most noticeable from the drama (yes they actually wrote an article about it) I’ve been waiting for NB to maybe translate some of it.. Anywho, I personally was annoyed with the changes of his character, I hated that he became clingy but I guess his character was very well received by netizens, they sympathized more with him than with Shin.

I totally agree with u. I dont really get those accusations of “its because of jyh fans,” i mean did the fans put a gun on the writer’s head to force her to write like this? The latest i know is the ratings is 4.3% viewership, so where is the fandom there? Theres an article release in korea the reasons why they favor sejoo more eventhough he doesnt get the girl. And about those agency favoring jyh more than ldg, gosh i roll my eyes on u guys, fnc is more known for band music why did he sign in this agency then??? In cheongdamdong 111 ldg reveal he wanted to revive as a singer. I think its a good opportunity for him, jyh will learn from ldg in acting and in return jyh can produce songs for him. C’mon, guys we all agree that the writer sucks at these drama thats all

And looking at ratings..they stabilized in the 5’s during episode 8 (until 11, when we had another drop), which was mostly about Shin and Mirae. Obviously I’m not saying Shin/Mirae is popular, but solely blaming his character is completely ridiculous.

@liz
Xcuse me for being random. MGY’s boyfriend KB may be second lead actor, but he makes smart choices with his dramas. BOF, padam padam, TWTWB are all good. For GOF, he just want to work with MGY. Yoon eun hye, hope she makes better choices with next dramas. Next time, she should the script A LOT more carefully.

Seriously, I had a headache watching this drama but I lasted until the final episode simply because I was curious how it will end. Now, that headache is a full blown migraine and I just felt like banging my head on the wall or something. What a waste. This is classic example how catering to the whims of the fans can ruin a potentially good drama.

So, sooooooo glad I gave up around 11. The ending is mind boggling bad, but I respect you for slogging through it, Koala. How is it possible that they had one of the best K-kissers out there with Eun Hye and never gave her a chance to show her stuff? Such a waste!

Koala, I applaud your display of class throughout all this hot mess. The only person to blame here is the writer, and unless there was some kind of blackmailing, pressuring, or forceful tactic on the agencys,it will take alot for me to ever watch another one of her works again.
writer Hong, please do not write without ur sister. Thanks

Aaaaaaand, this drama bowed out with 4.1% ratings for the final episode. That is 4% more than it deserves, but a good 20% less than what YEH-LDG deserves in selling more chemistry out of the least romantic interactions in the history of all K-drama OTPs.

OMG! Last time a drama sucked and wasted the amazing chemistry between two actors who barely had romantic interactions, the couple became true. Coughcoughgoddessoffirecoughcough. Let see what the “Future” has prepared.

Good riddance drama! I’ll move on to watching other dramas that will not only entertain but has a good plot. Scriptwriter HONG JIN AH sshi please don’t attempt anymore writing unless it make sense and it has to be with your sister. Oh for the cast, please continue to hone in your crafts and do not choose a script from this writer next time. For Koala, (applause) thanks for your hard work in recapping albeit a bit painful. Now let all move on!

I dislike both characters YEH portrayed in her last two drama (this and IMY).
For her next one, I hope she will not be pairing with any of the guys that I like. I found YEH’s acting just passable. I’d have skip this drama if not for LDG.

There should be a written rule that k-drama scripts should be written to completion before airing. It’s 16 episodes. Not hard to do. These actors should know what they’re signing up for. Dedicating 2 months slaving over the live-shoot system over a story that started off promising and then ended up turning into crap.. Why waste the time, effort, and talent of these actors/actresses? It’s like a gamble every time actors sign up for a k-drama.
It’s no wonder some of them stick strictly to film — more money, finished script, less hours.

Sadly i stop watching after episode 7. I just read the recaps provided by the very patient Ms.Koala.For that that you. However this drama made no sense..i m a big huge fan of YEH ever since watching her in Princess Hours n Coffee Prince.But after these 2 dramas,she does not seem to have much luck in drama land.All the other dramas including MHIYD suffered low ratings + horrible scripts.I am starting to feel so frusrated with her that i might not want to watch her dramas anymore 🙁 gurl, how are you choosing the freaking scripts?

It’s just obvious that the writer must be a YH fan. So disappointing! LOL. I wonder what happened at what episode was that? Everything just fell apart, I don’t even remember when it started!

Second lead attack! Hahaha. They keep pushing Sejoo with Mirae but there is absolutely, virtually no chemistry. At all. They wasted all 4 leads’ characters. No romance, this drama is very depressing. LOL. I can’t believe we stayed to watch this drama til the end, painfully. Kudos to you Koala.

If I had a genie lamp I would make three wishes:
1. A writer who can make justice to the awesomeness Yoon Eun Hye is.
2. A Lee Dong Gun drama, because I love him now even if I loved/hated his character.
3. Han Chae Ah as the female lead drama, because I adore her here.
Why can’t some drama heroines be as awesome as the second female leads???

I deleted your comment because writing in ALL CAPS is not allowed here because its rude. I let it go the first time in the last comment thread but you persist so off you go to the trashbin. Feel free to re-post if you can turn your caps lock button off. If it’s broken, then I’m sorry but your screaming at people here is rude and ruins the mood.

I thought some of the subplot minus their loveline resolved quite decent… For example kim shin and his problem with ntn, mirae’s career development, yo kyung being awsome… Etc..
It’s no where near become the worst drama ever…. There is a lot of inconsistency yes…. But I’ve seen worse drama than this…where are the development become insanely crazy and full of makjang… Their unforgiveable sin is a loveline develpment between 4 character…. God… It’s sucks……
They spent so much time developing mirae, sejo and kim shin that has nothing to do with the main plot or the main issues…. That this drama really become pointless and waste of time…

Thanks for recapping this drama Koala. I have 15 minutes left to watch of episode 15 and I just don’t have the energy to continue. Mirae doesn’t make a choice anyway (why is this drama called that again?) so I don’t see the point.

I feel bad for the cast & crew. I hope they have better luck on their next projects. I hope this drama doesn’t scare LDG. I was so happy he made a return to tv after 5 years. It’s a shame the drama ended up being a real stinker.

There was a lot of leading male I mean A LOT of leading male who is abusive that I loathe and they were got a good rating…. (Kim shin is not even an abusive man…) If that’s the main case.. Then korean is a very conservative country and they are the one who make korean drama has little variety. Flawed charcter makes them more human that’s what makes kim shin refreshing. as a leading man, He is not painted as a chaebol or prince charming that are often used in a lot of korean drama as the male lead and I appreciate that. I personally like kim shin character a lot at least as character study.
But I don’t think it’s the case…..

@missjb
exactly and that’s why I love KS character! I just love layered characters, those who have depth! LDG portrayed KS very well that I can look past his arrogant side, SJ I don’t find him interesting at all! this character is everywhere in kdrama history. KS and YK are perfect example for flawed characters with good heart
but all we hear is! KS is an abusive arrogant man, and YK a sly fox gold digger!
I guess they can’t figure complex characters!

This was just posted on soompi, koala I hope you won’t delete this comment I don’t think she meant any offense to you and some of the information she is sharing might be valid since a few things did happen as she mentioned. Also netizenbuzz translated an article and the netizens comments also seem to be on point with this.

”
Actually, it was FNC’s intentions to limit JYH’s screen time in this drama and give LDG full support as the male lead. FNC wanted to use JYH as the promotional tool while pushing LDG fully as the male lead in this drama. However, the Korean viewers didn’t follow FNC’s plans and didn’t really fall for LDG as the male lead in this drama because of Kim Shin’s characterization. I won’t say anymore on this at this time although there is much to say about FNC.

Speaking of Koala…

Does anyone know if Koala knows Korean? Because some of the things that Koala is saying about DC spoiler isn’t quite right. I’ve been following DC Inside quite closely even before the drama started and have been following MHIYD Gallery at DC Inside since that opened. She seems like she knows Korean but what she is saying about DC Inside and Korean YEH fans seems to be quite inaccurate. I am fluent in Korean and I have been following MHIYD Gallery and YEH Gallery at DC very closely.

I think Koala has a huge following and I just wanted to clear that not all Koala is saying about DC Inside Spoilers are quite accurate. Additionally, Koala extremely biased and I think that might be limiting her views in someway when it comes to sharing information to overseas fans. She seems to be letting her biased views affect sharing of accurate informations.

I have been following several Korean drama communities even before this drama started. I know there have been several synopsis changes even before the drama started, and I know of at least two major script changes that took place after this drama started airing. Some of the spoilers, script changes mentioned were posted by MHIYD staff or someone who have actually read the synopsis and script. Some of these spoilers were posted even before certain episode aired and that is how I knew that some of the spoilers were accurate.

The synopsis of this drama changed significantly since this drama received the approval, sponsors, time slot, and some of the main castings. This sigficant change took place somewhere just before or after the final casting was done, with involvement of the productions companies. In the original synopsis, it was supposed to be a love story between a young PD who is a son of CEO of a broadcasting company and Na Mirae. Jung Yong Hwa was originally casted in the role of this young PD. There are news articles that were released in Korean media early summer that confirm and back up my statement.

For whatever reason, the original synopsis went through a major change and we got what we had in the first four episodes of this drama. During sometime around the airing of Ep 4, we did get a spoiler that the writer had already written scripts until Ep 12 and then discarded it completely. Writer Hong is said to have rewritten the script at that time. Before the rewrite, the Writer Hong already had Seju and Mirae dating.

After the revision, the Writer Hong completely deleted Seju and Mirae dating scenes altogether and added more of Kim Shin and Na Mirae scenes. This revision took place sometime around Ep 4 airing. I have more details on summary of the scenes before the revision of the script by the writer. I’ll share if anyone is interested. I think that spoiler summary revealed by one of the staff is still posted at one of the Korean drama community sites.

Then, after the rating started to fall drastically. When the rating hit around 4% mark, we’ve heard that they went into a bit of a panic mode at KBS. We’ve heard that there might be another script changes. That was after Ep 12 was aired.

I just wanted to share this information because I am tired of seeing that they added Seju scenes as a “fan service”. Actually, his scenes were decreased to give Kim Shin more screen time by the writer after the drama started. She probably had to make some changes to the script in the end to try to keep the ratings from falling down even futher. That is probably when more of Seju and Mirae scenes were added after Ep 12, to prevent the ratings from falling down even further.

As I’ve said, I’ve been following various Korean drama sites very closely even before this drama started, including Yoon Eun Hye Gallery, Jung Yong Hwa Gallery, and MHIYD Gallery but not limited to these sites.

The actual breakdown of this drama stated to happen when the writer tried to add more of Kim Shin and Na Mirae scenes even though the character Kim Shin has completely failed to win over Korean viewers. The writer probably did want Kim Shin and Na Mirae ending and tried to force the Korean viewers to fall for Kim Shin and Na Mirae coupling by deleting Seju and Na Mirae dating scenes early on and adding more Kim Shin and Na Mirae scenes.

I read some people claiming that the writer was trying to do fan services, especially to JYH fans, by increasing Seju and Mirae scenes. However, that isn’t entirely accurate assessment. The writer tried to decrease Seju and Mirae dating scenes to encourage viewers to like Kim Shin and Na Mirae coupling that she wanted to write.

However, when Kim Shin and Mirae couple failed to generate any support from Korean viewers and also when the rating started to fall drastically and reached a point where KBS no longer will tolerate dropping any further, the writer tried to get the viewers back by writing more Seju and Mirae scenes. That late rewrite by the writer to add more Seju and Mirae scenes wasn’t her way of trying to provide a fan service. It was more the writer trying to keep the rating from dropping even further.

I just wanted to clarify that the writer didn’t just add Seju and Mirae scenes at the last minute as a fan service. The writer originally planned to have Seju and Mirae dating with Mirae getting interested in Kim Shin as well. The writer revised that script she had written after the drama already started to air to delete all those Seju and Mirae dating scenes when the Korean viewers started to show more interest in Seju and Mirae coupling starting Ep 1. The writer only went back to writing more Seju and Mirae scenes after the rating dropped to 4-5% and couldn’t risk going down even further.

I also wanted to state the many of Korean Jung Yong Hwa fans didn’t really support Seju/Mirae pairing. The fact is that many of Korean JYH fans wanted Seju to just concentrate on building his media empire after Ep 5 and on. So, the writer didn’t really give Jung Yong Hwa’s fan services by adding more Mirae/Seju scenes. The writer continued on with that love triangle and, the fact is, that many of Korean JYH fans didn’t want that love triangle to continue.

Anyone who can read Korean can go to JYH Gallery and MHIYD Gallery at DC Inside as well as various other drama sites and review past posts and comments there. They’ll see that it isn’t actually JYH fans who make up the majority of Seju/Mirae fans. They’ll also find out that the majority Korean fans of JYH have been calling for Seju to stay single for many episodes.

The majority of Korean MHIYD have also been asking for an open-ended conclusions as well. Many MHIYD fans also have been asking for Mirae to end up with anyone but Kim Shin. These are not JYH fans. One only has to review posts and comments at MHIYD Gallery to know that there are many more drama fans, and some YEH fans, who have been more supportive of Seju/Mirae pairing or an open-ended conclusion, not JYH fans. If you know Korean, go and review and find out for yourself.

I am mentioning Korean viewers and fans responses in the post since it is probably Korean viewers’ responses that the writer, KBS, and the production team probably monitor.

I know this drama failed many people’s expectations. However, I just didn’t want to stay quiet and not say anything when things that aren’t entirely accurate are being spread around overseas drama forums. “

All of that just confirms what we already know, that they did everything for the ratings because KBS freaked out. It’s just trying to explain why and somehow excusing it because YH was once upon a time the lead before the drama even aired and they haaad to do it. They still did it. Why do people get so upset about using the word fanservice anyway?

@Les , because you are @Les stop with this. the ratings started to fall since there wasn’t romance in this drama and more scenes between sejoo and mirae diddn’t help like you said. check the ratings more scenes between sejoo-mirae=low ratings. The main problem of this mess is the writer, but JYH’s agency has a lot of responsibility , too . Don’t be naive also if you watched this drama JYH performance like actor was almost good. In my opinion he’s not an actor yet, he needs so much work.Fan service is what webviewers watched in this drama , some viewers is you want. a few viewers if you prefer , but that’s their opinion they watched this drama like you and they perceive that like me . This is my opinion based in what I watched not based in soompi or other webs , blogs forums . Mirae doesn’t love sejoo , didn’t love him , won’t love sejoo in this drama not even for a minute this is how YEH acted in this drama , so is inexplicable why some or many fans wanted sejoo/mirae ending together why? If mirae never started to fall in love with him , this drama is the weirdest I’ve seen .For me this drama was made to JYH he was going to end with the female lead but everything went to hell .

Lol What? Ok first off, not every YH fan that comments here is me, with that being said, seriously what?! I’ve been using the same name even when my comments have gotten dismissed because I said I was a fan of Yonghwa, I have no reason to use a different one when my point has been clearly the same. Also, if anything wouldn’t this post contradict what I’ve been saying, I said that I didn’t think it was the agency that tried to push YH down everyonevs throat while this post is stating the opposite. I’m not Korean and I rely on sites like this one for information so I wouldn’t be able to confirm what was posted there was truth or not..Lastly, when the hell did I say I wanted to post this? Look at all my comments I’ve never mentioned anything related to the article so what are you talking about? Singling me out just because I disagree with people blaming the actors for this mess or assuming anyone that shares my view or is also a YH fan, must be “me” is going overboard don’t you think?

It really doesn’t matter which character was called in to help save the ratings. The problem was not the characters, but in the plot. There were lapses in logic you could drive a truck through, a lack of passion, a lack of direction, a lack of theme. To say that adding SeJoo scenes of deleting SeJoo scenes would make a ratings difference is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Even though Jonghwa fans are legendarily numerous and dedicated, there’s no way they could keep this ship from sinking.
I’m just disgusted at the massive waste of two of my favorite actors, YEH and LDG. I hope that in some alternate universe, in a different timeline, there is this drama called Mirae’s Choice where they just lit the screen on fire with their dynamic, passionate relationship and how someone came from the future with dire warniongs, and point by point they conq

@skelly
hahahaha you totally made me laugh!
I think we stuck with the timeline where this story sucks, I wanna go to the timeline where this story have lots of YEH/LDG passionate scenes with lots of kisses pls!

Wait… I’m not getting this. Is the ending supposed to be meaningful a la Lovers in paris and I’m just too stupid to understand the genius… Or there;s no point to it? What was the story of this drama about? Future mirae’s happiness? HUH. UH?? WHUT??? DS:LKFJS:LFJDS DF:Lj No kidding.. My brain just fried from trying to understand this. :OOOOOOO My mouth is literallly hanging like an idiot. ?????????? WHAT? WHAT?????

Okay, so I have been a silent reader of the recaps of this drama. Before it premiered I hadn’t planned on watching it, but the beginning episodes intrigued me and I decided that I would watch it after Secret was over, because I only like following one airing drama at once. Thank goodness for that, because now I can avoid the majority of the frustration and betrayal that the viewers of this drama must have experienced. After things started going downhill in the middle episodes, I was less eager to watch, but I actually thought, even as late as episode 15, that the writer would turn things around in the last episode and have Mirae and Shin finally fight for their love and get their happy ending, plus at least a hint of Yookyung/Sejoo possibly becoming a couple at some point (they were actually the otp I was most interested in). It would have been rushed and too little too late to be satisfying or make up for the mess that came before, but to my amazement the drama didn’t even do that much and actually managed to keep up its streak of each episode being worse than the last. The thing is, despite not having watched the drama, I feel so cheated, because I really want to watch the awesome drama that this should have been if for some unfathomable reason some idiotic person, whether it was the writer or the production company or the network or whoever, hadn’t decided to scrap everything that was good about this drama and give us this instead. There is no way this could have been more of a disappointment.

ughhh worst drama ending ever. 2nd after Big. wth. I wish YEH and LDG would just star in another drama and pretend like this one never happened. It had good messages but it was too blahhhh. I admit it, didnt we all watch this drama to see a cute romcom with our two fave leads?!

Bakit kasi ginawang second lead yung crush ko.. ayan tuloy haha. We’ll i still would like to think that MR ended up with SJ since KS is so harsh on MR and never really showed her any sweetnes and care at all and he never did protect and fight for her unlike SJ did. I would prefer a man who loves and care for me more than me being the one who loves more hehe. I can fell for that man.. after all love is a decision, not just a feeling.

1st time to make a comment here, just to reply your comment, I saw a few comment like you ‘I would prefer a man who love me more than I’, can I correct you? No hard feeling…Relationship not just about LOVE but MIND too, but LOVE is ONLY about feeling, that’s why we can’t choose who we’ll FALL IN LOVE WITH…finally it’s our decision to make our own CHOICE to CHOOSE WHICH RELATIONSHIP we want to take.
You’re not wrong to choose a man who love me more, but make sure your heart READY to accept him…when you still care so much, crying because missing someone else..I don’t think it’s a right choice 🙂
And as a reminder a heart need time to healed before you can move on, it depend on the person and how deep is your love (I need 7 years to move on after I let the one I love go..before you say I’m just another hater).

k-drama lovers should be separated from k-pop lovers.
actors and actresses should be separated from idols.
actors and actresses act.
idols sing and dance and fanservice-ing.
only k-drama lovers that know which is the good actor.
only k-pop lovers that watch drama to see their idol and screaming and want a spotlight for their idols only.

some idols are good actors,why can’t they act?
even some korean actor or actress have gone through the part of being idol singers before they become actor/actresses
yoon eun hye, hwang jung eum, jung rye won,yoon kye sang,sung yuri,lee ji hoon, eugene,kim kwang woo,joo won etc
you can’t blame an idol who has big fan base, even some actor and actresses like lee minho, park shin hye or yoon eun hye herself have big fan bases
for yonghwa, his fans are not only cnblue fans,he also got fans who like him for his participation in drama and variety shows

What??!! Writer-nim couldn’t decide whom Mirae should end up with? Total train-wrecked!! I’ve not watched last 2 eps but was hoping for miracle to happen. Guess I can just give up and not finish it. Super waste of YEH and LDG. I was so looking forward to LDG and he had to to come back to the ‘bleh’ show of the year. Not his fault as it is clearly not what he signed up for. Let’s hope he picks a better show next year where we can all swoon in earnest!

After five stressful episodes there is a little hope that writer make cheerful ending!
Oh your sentence ” she sees her Coffee Prince Gong Yoo ”
why am i still dreaming to see YEH and Gong Yoo together?
Tanx for your recaps

Awww. I hope this is not the beginning of the decline of the hallyu wave. Pandering to the ratings. changing storylines. We just want a good story! We want character development. We are tolerant of bad acting if the story is good. we can do without much skinship if the story is good. I would like to encourage the actors to please do not give up. I personally feel the efforts you put into this drama, even as you must have felt the pain more than us just watching you. YEH studied directing, but i hope we still see her in really good dramas. She has surmounted a big hurdle here when we were quite ready to overlook her non-posh looks. LDG, fighting! I can’t see you as a singer but you’ve got to follow your heart!

I don’t think it was that bad. The writers left it up to the viewers to choose. To me it works out both ways since the future Mi Rae definitely ends up with Shin it wouldn’t hurt if present Mi Rae ended up with Se Joo, and it wont matter if she ended up with Shin since she’s technically already with him. I think they did a good job, wasn’t fantastic but wasn’t the worst. I don’t think this claims worst drama ending the way Fashion King does.

Yeah but the show was called Mirae’s Choice. I think it’s fair that people will be disappointed at Mirae’s lack of agency. She is never really able to make any of her own decisions. This is why it bugs the shit out of me if Mirae ended up with Sejoo in this timeline bc she never actually reciprocated his feelings. He forced his on her. How is that okay or even remotely romantic.

I think that between Sejoo and Mirae, it’s her character who acted crappy and not in accordance with her “now I make my own choices” line.
Yes, Sejoo was insistent, and consistent, and maybe delusional, thinking that with good behaviour you can win love. But the fact is that at some point she stopped saying no. She could have said no. But she chose to compromise by being with someone whom she liked and respected, although she didn’t love him passionately. His behaviour was flawless, he acted like a hero giving up his job, he stated that he would respect her wishes to work etc… And there might even be a hint of “why wouldn’t I marry this rich guy?” We should all remember that she gave it a try in the beginning, because future Mirae told her that he will become successful and the other one will fail. And in the beginning episodes she was conflicted and confused, so it’s not that she found him repulsive or anything.
But yes, if the writer meant her to keep the ring and possibly end up with him, then it would have been better if the expressions of the actress changed a bit, gradually, and we could see that she brought herself to like him more as a man. Which didn’t happen. She kept looking miserable.
Was it the director disagreeing with the writer? Was it the actress disagreeing with the script she was given? Who knows….

I completely agree. It gave me a sense of contentment not to see the choice made so quickly. It seems to me that the writer wants the story to live on in our minds so she leaves a kind of…. for us to fill. I for one enjoyed the drama as a whole!

This drama doesn’t entertain me at all.. at the beginning maybe.. but after FMR shows up then all suddenly become disaster..
and one thing bother me.. it’s not se joo who save her in jeju island.. but the waiter.. remember.. the waiter who carry her from the beach not se joo..

Captain Koala! Lee Dong Gun (or his people) posted a link to this recap on his official facebook page. It makes me wonder if he is doing it to see the support from the fans despite the crazy that he had to put up. I could so see myself slamming down the printout in front of my manager.

Excellent, well written comment! What a mess! This writer should never get a job writing a drama ever again! The good thing that came out of this was I got to meet Lee Dong Gun as an actor and he is great. I truly hope he will get a role worth of his great talent!

Im glad that you were with me the whole 16 episodes, koala, or i would’ve gone completely mad. reading your recaps after watching the episodes in this drama feels like having someone to scream along with me. the ending is so very badly written; after spending one whole episode grimacing over the fact that future mirae and present mirae are from different universe, they then included the scene with the key and the box in the future, which does not make sense in the slightest bit! and it’s not as if it’s hastily written as the box is a clear reference to the Pandora’s Box that YBS was working on since, idk, 8 episodes before? i feel insulted as an audience that the writer would look at this big plot hole and went with it just for the awww factor, assuming we wont notice it? but tbh i cant hate this drama because i ‘ship’ mirae and kim shin so so so so much! rarely do costars exhibit so much chemistry, especially when there’s just so little scene (and no significant skinship at all) between them. i keep watching the earlier episodes to just rewatch scenes between them, it’s just so heartbreaking. maybe the writer meant it to be a love triangle from the start but underestimated the talent and overwhelming chemistry between eunhye and the lovely lovely lee dong gun (saranghae!!!). but then, why keep including these little moments between yookyung and sejoo, thus giving us hope that there is something there, oops nope, nothing! at least, the writer could’ve included some genuinely sweet moments between mirae and sejoo when they were dating, to show that maybe her heart could change and consider him. but she always looked so unhappy and burdened around sejoo, so tbh, sejoo could’ve taken the hint right there and then. i sincerely hope that eun hye and lee dong gun will have another drama together, as a proper couple with searing chemistry. or you know, just make a spinoff drama about future mirae and not-dead-yet shin. i’ll endure all the crying and the fighting if it meant seeing them together and loving each other.

Agreed with this entire article. I was one of those people who dropped off after ep. 6 and just SMH and did quick scans through the rest of it. It was in one word – BORING. I never thought I would say that about Time travel, a genre I love. I couldn’t understand all this push and pull for Mi Rae, to me, one of the most bland K-drama leading ladies ever. I loved Yoo Kyung the most, and pretty much watched her scenes. But of course, lets just send her off to America at the end. Something tells me that she did wind up with See Joo, because in the back hug scene, he reveals to Mi Rae that he’s going abroad. Just like YK. At the end, after Yoo Kyung’s broadcast, all four of them are back in town. Since the writers so annoyingly left it up to viewer imagination, I’m imagining Se Joo went to the bar and met YK. It’s their little cozy hotspot. And the old man’s hand was the old Kim Shin. Mi-Rae of the parallel universe made the same choice. 😛 Errr, whatever!

I haven’t watched this episode yet but I guess what the writer lacked is choice, yes. Mi Rae should choose and I expected more romance. I mean, YEH had 2 goodlooking guys but I seldom saw a scene that can make my heart futtery. Very few instances. The drama should be filled with love + change _ future. I hoped that they depicted a Mi Rae- Shin ending much clearly. It should’ve been better if they kiss and make up and Kim Shin is now a chnaged man and they will move on to the future together – as a family with their baby. It was supposed to be Lee Dong Gun’s time to shine after so many years!!!!!!!!

WTF with this drama!! Screw kim Shin!! We’ve watched all Eun Hye’s dramas and We thought this was gonna be good. But this was disappointing. Besides all the plot holes ¡f Mirae was to stay with the crappy stuck up Kim Shin then what was the point of all the f@# king mess? The only good things were Oppa getting married and that the goldigger reporter did not get Sejoo!! Haha!! Screw that Yoo Kyung!!

I guess you can figure out her choice if the two babies look a like. Captain Koala can you do a side by side comparison. Future Mirae’s baby in ep 12 and the baby in the last episode. I guess the writers would like for us to become detectives.

And one more comment about the main actress. This is really what I expect from her. Coffee Prince and Goong: she was good. To me she is trying to hold on to her image in Goong. Since she is older it does not work. It makes her characters look indecisive and immature. Lie to me was good until she became indecisive. Really you go through all of that and then you want to
be indecisive. And Missing You: I just gave up-between the whining of Yoochun and her
indecisiveness, I skipped to the parts of Sueng Ho. Sueng Ho kept that drama moving.

I thought from what we saw from previews that this was meant to be a rom-com.. Meant to be funny?!! But how depressing!! If it wasn’t meant to be funny, they could have made it into a more meaningful type of drama, like emphasis on the real world being dominated by global giants that control so much of our real choices in life… Then Shin, Mirae and Se Joo could have been made more heroic in trying to battle this can of situation since there’s hardly any romance anyway. For instance, why couldn’t Miranda suddenely start to see Se Joo’s passion to change. Instead we see her talking to Mirae and saying she is ruining Se Joo. Sigh!
If you ask me why I continued to watch ….. I waited 2 years for Jung Yong Hwa’s comeback drama and I guess just seeing him on screen was enough to keep me anticipating week after week! Always support Jung Yong Hwa!

The writer doesn’t have to follow what the majority thinks, the writer will write with what he/she wants.

I think this is a good story in the sense that it keeps you guessing which team you’re on: TeamShin or TeamSeJoo. I have!! This teaser has been going on until the end. It paves way for viewers to come up with their conclusion, in a way it’s not too spoonfeeding like The Inception. Not your common k-drama ending!

Oh man. Every time YEH comes out with a new drama, I keep hoping it would be the next big hit of hers. Not to be again…I wouldn’t say it’s one of the worst things I’ve seen though because I did enjoy scenes here and there throughout the drama. And because I’m in denial that YEH is actually part of a bad drama.

Anyway, thanks for the recap. I choked with laughter when you started listing YEH’s previous lovers during the last scene. Seriously, I need some closure. Coffee prince, crown prince, SOMEBODY.

I am thankful that this drama introduced me to Lee Dong Gun and Jung Yong Hwa. I loved LDG’s acting despite what the drama gave him to work with. Will definitely watch his next work. And I’ve actually never watched JYH’s previous dramas before but just basing off of this drama, I didn’t think he was that bad.

The ending got me screaming and jumping out of my seat! A hanging ending? All these while throughout the drama I have always thought and believed that the moral this story has/had is “You can try to change your future/past, but you can never change your destiny. Against all odds, however you try to change how your life goes, you can never change the people you go through it with.

Everytime there’s scene between Kim Shin and Mirae, I would keep on repeating it – how I long for romance scene between the two!~ Thanks to the writer, there’s so little of it.
Though she left it to Sejoo to decide whether to come back to her or not, we all know that her heart has always been for Kim Shin, and him for her. Her and Sejoo was just forced love, uncomfortable and it was just not natural. I really look forward for more of Lee Dong Geon after this. Missed him a lot since My Boyfriend is Type B. I hope he will have more successful projects after this.

It’s kinda weird to say that they both do not have anything to do with each other because if there’s really nothing to do with both of them then why did the fire, lightning and everything else such as Kim Shin failing happened exactly the same as the future Mi Rae said? What I think is, they both may be from different Univers, but that doesn’t really mean that they both really have nothing to do with each other. Some things may happen and some may not. I don’t think the bodyguards that came from the future really know anything about the situation because they’ve never been through this kind of situation before and the future Mi Rae was the first who ever did anything like this as Mi Rae mention before that she volunteered to be on the time machine and even the future haven’t really mastered the time machine and she could’ve ended up at anywhere… Anyway, it’s a really confusing drama… All we can do is use our own imagination and hope the best for Marry Him If You Dare 2!!!

Different universes was a door created by the mediocre writer she used this like an excuse to write and open ending ,it depends on who you support in the drama if you want sejoo/ mirae that could happens in one universe but if you want kim shim /mirae you have the other universe which doesn’t make sense to me ,this writer shouldn’t write this drama in first place.

Long time lurker here, but finally decided to add my two cents about this show.Like most of the commenters here, I grew up watching YEH, LDG and JYH so there is a hint of nostalgia there . The problem with this show is that the story is a little underwhelming compared to other shows so far . Even my mom, who is an avid watcher of korean dramas dropped the show earlier because she feels that MHIYD is not entertaining enough, there are a variety of korean dramas , and they tend to be the latest shows competing for her attention nowadays (We have 3 korean channels at home), and this situation, is from an overseas country. I can only imagine how it’s like in South Korea. I would love to see our trio to be successful, but this isn’t the right show for them.

its kind of sad to see Jung Yong Hwa acting skill had been wasted at this drama (sorry..) 🙁 . Its pity why he refuse the role of Choi Young do in the heirs and choose to become Se Joo. I think if he make the good choice, he could be the next top leading actors because of that role. Actually, its kind of boring to see him become the second male lead with typically one sided love role, I wish next time he can pick another fascinating role with new character. Fighting! 🙂

I dont knw y people are complaining i enjoyed the story for me it was ok. And the ending wasnt as bad as city hunter when prosecutor kim died or a tale of two sisters when yerin died after she changed from bad to good i really said i would stop watching kdramas because yerin died in that movie

I’m in epi 2.5. After Reading all the comments and recap of the ending,I think I’m just going to trust my instinct and give up. LOL! Wats wrong with kdrama dis days?? Even Heirs became laggy when comes to epi 15. So I gave up on that too.

hated the ending the writer ruined a perfectly good drama because of the low ratings and people didn’t want her with shin not to mention they didn’t give this show an ending instead the writer fkdjfakjdl it up i would have been happy if they had her end up with either one of the guys because i liked both shin and sejoo. the writer needed to have her end up with at least one of the leads not this mess.

I just finished the final and ya bit disappointed but I took it positively that probably options is open to us who ever we want MiRae to end up with… both See Joo and Shin still hv her in their hearts even after 3 years…..for me I would love to see her end up with See Joo but his grandma would be an obstacle to a happy life….I would love to hv a glimpse into the “future” where future MiRae opens up that box in the garden to see what present MiRae put inside…kind of cummunication between the past & the future….ya this drama sort of put us into much thinking…wa how nice if there is such a time travel machine … thanks anyway I enjoyed myself even though the story is just beyond reality…

I’m so glad I read this I would have thrown my laptop for the ending you just recapped. I think I stopped at 7 or 8. and mind you I haven’t been watching it consistently cause I have to admit it was sort of driving me batty with future Mi Rae and time travelling and whatever. I think I will remove the drama form my queue and go to Miss Korea. i think that looks promising

i think in the end it’s not future mi rae but present mi rea’s new future. andd future kim shin’s wife… kim shins future might as well change after he reports the story, he might even marry mi rae. drama’s meaning is that there is no such a thing like fate or meant to be it’s the choices that builds the future. butterfly effect. as for mi rae’s future she will chose the man she likes the best and drama fans have freedom to chose to. even those i was not expecting this kind of ending and was hoping for some kdrama classic scenario i loved it!it’s not what i expected it’s better<3<3<3
p.s. sorry for my bad, scary and shamefully not knowing grammer english, hope i wrote understandable :DDDD

I really do not like hanging endings. I felt quite disappointed at the end when she didn’t make any choice between the two leads. I kept waiting and hoping she would make a choice. When they were at the bookstore I kept hoping she would bump into one of them. It was like a big tease because she even went back in. Ugh.

wasnt Gun the son of oppa in the young Mi Rae’s timeline? lifetime? i dont even know how to call it lol I was at least hoping for a picture in the end of who she ended up with… but yes, fan service. choose your own ending kind of thing. Though everything does point towards se joo by the end.
Also, that goddarned time capsule! if they lived in alternate universes… future mi rae would not even find that box in her front yard! young mi rae is not her past! they have similar houses, but they are not the young and old self of each other! they established an alternate universe theory and not a time-space continuum theory. (forgive the geek)

psssh… i just watched it for yonghwa anyway. hahaha. too bad it wasnt good. :/

I think the writer must have watched the old “90210” (Season 5) when Kelly can’t decide between Dylan and Brandon and declares “I choose me!”. We’ve been quoting her for years around my house! When Mi Rae doesn’t choose either of them so she can go off to discover herself, that’s when I knew we’d never hear the conclusion! We think it’s Kim Shin because of the photos in Pandora’s box: they show a young man, a younger boy and then the babies which means young Mi Rae wanted to assure old Mi Rae that she did have the boy and he grew up safely without wandering off. She never did love Se Joo so I don’t think that would have changed over time when he wasn’t even around to remind her of him. I appreciate your recaps!

and here i thought i was the only one who was soooo confused with the ending that i ended up googling several recaps, and came to this site. thank you for summing it up nicely ockoala. 🙂

that’s what you get when writers dabble with time-space travel plots with one eye closed. the fact that Mi Rae managed to fix the past would mean that an alternate universe opens with a future having a Na Mi Rae who never has to go back to the past because there’s nothing to fix anymore, which means Ahjumma version 1.0 should supposedly go *poof* into non-existence. History was re-written and the future should have changed because of Ahjumma’s meddling. That was supposed to be the plan right??? So if the writer insisted on future Mi Rae going back to where/whenever she came from, you’re right ockoala, she should not have been able to dig up a time capsule in a garden because in Ahjumma’s old timeline, i don’t think her past self planted a time capsule. Writer-sshi, this isn’t Il Mare! You shouldn’t have created a mystical time capsule (where 1 person from 2 parallel universes could communicate) which added to the clusterfuck of an ending for this series! Aaaaaargh!!!

I never got bored watching Korean drama series, but this one lead me to nowhere and ending up rewinding scenes since I can’t stop myself from sleeping. I have tried my best to watch till the end hoping for a good ending just to be disappointed.

You guys knows “open ending”. Yup, I guess, since the screenwriter can’t fully decide with whom Mi Rae is going to end up with. The audience are left to decide or conclude on their own. It’s not satisfying, but it’s okay that way (and lessen the headache. Haha) Though a lot of things points towards Se Joo in the end. Moreover, I think whenever they’ll answer ‘maybe’ when they’re asked if ever the past wasn’t changed would they love the person or date with that person, shows a symbolism. Since the past has been changed, future events have been changed, too, and that says Shin and Mi Rae most probably didn’t end up together. Or, how about the two Mi Rae’s end up with each of the guys? Haha. What am I saying here? Anyways… at least, it’s only 16 episodes with much painful love triangle elements. *Relief. So glad, I didn’t watch all the way. Went from 1-8 then skipped to 15 and 16. Lol. Reading your comments and recaps here and I went like, “Oh, goodness. I’m so smart!” Haha

Oh my goodness! I am applauding you right now. I just finished MHIYD and was pretty much distraught! My only hope was that someone else in the world would have had a similar reaction and could explain to me what I was feeling. This drama began so epically. That the ending was a huuuuuuge disappointment. Like, the ratings you can find on Wikipedia are more than accurate. It started off in the 9’s but averaged out to barely a 5. Even that was generous! I dont ask for much in life…..but a good romantic drama is one thing I don’t mess with. And thank you for also being confused by the Pandora’s box in a different universe loophole. Glad Im not the only one who pays attention to major writing flaws. My biggest question is….What drama should I watch now that will prove better than this? Koreand Dramas must be redeemed!!!

This is the biggest plot hole I have ever seen in a K-drama before! I really wanted to see Se Joo and Mi Rae together or even Kim Shin and Mi Rae I don’t really care, but what was this ending! It is really disappointing! I just wanted to see a happy family and all I saw was future Mi Rae finding the Pandora’s Box from the past and Kim Shin being next to her?! How am I supposed to comprehend this?! How did this box trasfare tothe future and who did the past Mi Rae end up with?! When I saw the last episode I started screaming “SE JOO!!!! PLEASE GO THERE!!! SEE HIM!!! PLEASE!!!” but what did I get? – Nothing! I really want them to make a last episode that shows who she ends up with and all! All I want from a movie or a drama is to show what happened after the “they lived happily ever after”. But here they don’t even show who is her “prince” in the end! I’m really frustrated because I just finished it! I was hoping for more! I love that she worked on herself and that she bacame a famous writer and all, but we don’t get to see what is written in her book! And she told Se Joo that she would wait for him and will work on herself in order to become a person worth for his wife, and we see some kind of sign that it’s not Kim Shin from the scene where Kim Shin and Mi Rae take different paths in the park, and when they were in the book shop she went past Kim Shin and said that she wanted to see a friend form the past, but whe she went past Se Joo she said that she wanted to see a lover that was away for long time. So I think that both Mi Raes are happy with their choices: The past with Se Joo and the future with Kim Shin, so the both of them get to marry her!

Does anyone else think that Old Mi Rae’s hand holding the photograph at the end was shaking out of pure rage because she didn’t include a damn picture of who she ended up with? The whole premise of the show is “will she or won’t she”, not “you decide”. As a screenwriter myself, this is a massive insult to the viewer, in my opinion, and completely undermines the entire show. Haven’t felt this cheated since I saw that awful NBC stinker “Persons Unknown” or this last season of the Walking Dead. Really stupid decisions all around.